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June 26, 2008<br><br>
Greetings my relatives,<br><br>
I say relatives because you are all my family. I am honored,<br>
greatly honored today that you would listen to my words and come<br>
together in this way so that our future generations' will not forget<br>
what happened here in this land.<br><br>
You can't imagine how much I miss walking on the bare earth.<br>
Or brushing against a tree branch or hearing birds in the morning<br>
or seeing an antelope or deer cross my path. I have been here
in<br>
federal prison for 32 years; if you could imagine being in your own<br>
home stuck in one room for one year without leaving it, multiply<br>
that by 32 and you might have some idea of how imprisonment plays<br>
on your feelings. I really get tired sometimes living here in this<br>
cell, this prison. Yet at times I feel really good because for<br>
some reason I know that there are those out there who have prayed<br>
for me in some way. And it helps me because there are moments
when<br>
a peaceful feeling will wash over me in my solitude.<br><br>
I try to keep up with world events like the war in Iraq, where<br>
those people are going through the same thing our Indian people went<br>
through and over the same things. The US wants their resources
and<br>
they have divided those people against each other. Those
children<br>
over there and families for generations will still feel the effects<br>
of that onslaught of destruction.<br><br>
When I look at our own people's situation I see a people who have<br>
not recovered from the destruction put upon them in the past.<br>
Today, the greater society of America doesn't want to accept us<br>
for who we are because we will always stand as a reminder of the<br>
immoral wrongs that they do and have done all over the world, all<br>
in the name of technology and progress. Our people have told them<br>
from the very beginning about the consequences of mistreatment of<br>
individuals and mistreatment of Mother Earth. There are
history<br>
books that quote our chief headmen and medicine people cautioning<br>
them about there destruction of the earth and nature.<br><br>
We know the first concentration camps America ever had held Indian<br>
prisoners. The first biological warfare was used on our people
with<br>
poisonous blankets. The first atomic bomb dropped was dropped
on<br>
Indian land in Nevada. Today there are abandoned uranium quarries
in<br>
Navajo country that cause genetic defects on a lot of their people.<br>
When you look into the past, America has used us Indians as their<br>
social experiment. They tried to destroy us with boarding
schools,<br>
relocation, and even the first slavery practice was with American<br>
people. However Indian people would fight or commit suicide than<br>
to become slaves, and so they imported Africans.<br><br>
Forgive me if I am repeating things you already know, but I just<br>
wanted to bring these things up because these are the reasons behind<br>
the Wounded Knee takeover in 73 happened and the shootout at Oglala<br>
happened. Our people were not just taking a stand against this<br>
government for themselves; they in essence represented Indian people<br>
all across the Americas. Our resistance wasn't to kill anyone;<br>
our resistance was to remain alive while we let the world know what<br>
had been and what was being done to us, the Indigenous people.<br><br>
I know for a fact from communication all around the world, that we<br>
Indian people inspired many other indigenous people to stand up and<br>
defend themselves because of our actions. I have gotten
letters<br>
from all over the world where people said "if the native
Americans<br>
can stand up to people like that being in the belly of the beast,<br>
surely we can do likewise in some way."<br><br>
I recognize that my being here isn't all about me; my continued<br>
imprisonment in essence serves as a warning to others willing<br>
to stand up for their people. The US has violated their own<br>
constitution they violated the treaties we had with them, they<br>
violated all kinds of moralities to bring about my conviction.<br>
The average non Indian American either doesn't know or couldn't<br>
care less. As long as they can keep their high standard of
living<br>
our struggles mean nothing to them. Most recently other
nations<br>
have raised the issues of America's mistreatment of the people<br>
in the concentration camp in Guantanamo; issues of lack of a fair<br>
trial, issues of physical, mental abuse and of sanctioned torture of<br>
prisoners. I want to also mention that our people were the first to<br>
be tortured by this government and we were the first to be victims<br>
of scalping by the Europeans. The colonizers were paying for
our<br>
men, woman and children's scalps.<br><br>
I may sound angry in what I am saying, but all this goes back to<br>
why we are here today. We must not forget what has happened in<br>
the past but we must also find a way to heal from those things<br>
that have happened and be stronger in the future. We need to
heal<br>
our families; we need to heal our family's structures so that what<br>
happened to our people in the past can't happen to us again. For<br>
several generations our children were shipped off to boarding<br>
schools which destroyed their understanding of family and family<br>
responsibilities, and you think of the statistics today facing<br>
this, they don't have to kill us anymore with guns, our children<br>
and adults both are killing themselves.<br><br>
Again, like I said before we have not healed from the destruction<br>
that was put upon us, I know each one of us can be better than what<br>
we are, it takes effort, it takes getting back to our ceremonies,<br>
it takes getting back to our respect for one another, the earth,<br>
the Creator and our respect for our brothers' and sisters' vision.<br>
It takes men being men and being strong fathers and uncles and<br>
grandfathers and brothers, not just as a matter of birth but as a<br>
matter of responsible behavior. It also takes our women to
stand<br>
as the strong mothers they were meant to be and the sisters,<br>
grandmothers and aunties. We need to repair ourselves and not<br>
wait for some grant from the government to tell us or guide us in<br>
our recovery. We need to take that responsibility ourselves
and<br>
mend the sacred hoop.<br><br>
Again I want to say as I have said many times in the past, though<br>
my body is locked into this cell, my heart and soul is with you<br>
today. In closing I would like to acknowledge the loss of our
brother<br>
Vernon Belcourt and the great loss of my brother Floyd Westerman, a<br>
tireless advocate for Indigenous rights I'm sure that he as well as<br>
many others, who like him devoted their time and energies to better<br>
the conditions our people face, are here with us today in spirit.<br>
We have no guarantees of the time of our own passing but until that<br>
time or my time I will miss them greatly as I miss you my family. Be<br>
kind to one another, and remember my words; for I have spoken to<br>
you from my heart of hearts. And you will always be in my
prayers.<br><br>
In the spirit of Crazy Horse and every Indian man or person that<br>
stood for their people,<br><br>
Doksha<br><br>
<br>
Leonard Peltier<br><br>
Time to set him free... Because it is the RIGHT thing to do.<br><br>
Friends of Peltier<br>
<a href="http://www.freepeltiernow.org/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.FreePeltierNow.org<br><br>
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